Combined car axle and wheel structure.



PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906.

L. P. FERTIG.

COMBINED GAR AXLE AND WHEEL STRUCTURE.

APPLIGATION FlLED APR. 3, 1905.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

LEWIS P. FERTIG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.l

COMBINED CAR AXLE AND WHEEL STRUCTURE.

` To all whom it may concern:

Be itV known that I, LEwIs P. FERTIG, 'a citizen of the United States, residing in the city' of Chicago, count of Cook, and State of 5 Illinois, have invente certain new and useful Im rovements in a Combined Car Axle and eel Structure, of which the following is a specification. l

' This invention relates to improvements in combined car axles and wheels, the construcf tion and connections of which are designed to destroy vibrations as far as ma be and correspondingly reduce objectiona le noise produced thereby.

My invention, however, more particularly relates to combined car-axle structures eniloyed in elevated railwa s passing through business districts and ot er thickly-populated ortions of cities and towns wherein the noise eretofore produced by such vibrations is vdetrimental to the business, health, and comfort of those in the immediate vicinity, and this particularly when such vibrations n are au mented by the force and effect of utilizin t e car axles and Wheels as an electrical con uctor connecting the i'opellin -motor with their rail, through whic to con uct the current from the motor to the rail, and thereby close the electrical circuit. It is a well known and recognized fact that` the vibrations of any given metal, however resonant it may be, may be reduced in rate .and amplitude by bringing into intimate and close contact therewith some other metal the rate and amplitude of vibrations of which are coin laratively substantiallyless. Althoughit has ong been Well known, for exam le, that the plugging of a silver or gold coin wit lead or tin or zinc or other metals which have vibrations of less rate and am litude of vibrations, and'particularly tin, l destroy the ring of a coin, a result which is commonly employedv for 'detectin base-metal llings n coins ;but so far as am aware this knowl edge and fact has not heretofore been resorted to or employed for the purposes of destro ing the vibrations and correspondingly t e noise heretofore lar ely produced by car axles and wheels, notwitbstanding their objection, 5o and that various means have heretofore been resorted to without success in efforts to produce their destruction and remove this eat objection, particularly in elevated-'rai Way 5 5 lated-portions of cities and towns.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 3, 19H5.v Serial No. 253,608.

Patented Jan. 23, 1906.

The object offmy invention, therefore, is to s'o combine with the metals commonly em. ployed in car axles and wheels other metals aving a different rate and am l litude of vibrations and in such amanner t at the vibrations ofthe one metal shall neutralize the vibrations of the other to a degree reducing the noise therefrom to a minimum.

A further object o f m invention is to so arrange and secure toget er in combined car axle and wheel structures two or more metals differing in rate and amplitude of vibrations to a degree substantially reducing them b vibrations and which at the same time shall provide the best possible form of an electrical conductor, connecting the driving-motor of a car with the track-rail therefor when such rail is employed for forming a portion of the electrical circuit for said motor.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in con-v struction, combination, and arrangement of parts b 'which the said objects and certain othero jects are hereinafter attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a vertical centrallongitudinal section of a combined car axle and wheel containing my in- 8 5 vention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the outer face of one of said wheels Fig. 3, a detail vertical central section of a car axle and wheel, the wheel of which is a modification in form; iIiand Fig. 4 a detail section onthe line 4 4 of 9o Similar numerals of reference indicate the same parts in the several views of the drawl ings. f

1 indicates a car-axle the body of which is 95 oi the usual form, material, and construction, exceptthat it is cored or bored out throu hout its length, as indicated at 2, and t 's cored-out portion contains a metal filling 3, the vibrations of which dier both in rate and roo amplitude from that oi which the material of the body of the axle is composed, which filling when the body of the axle is of iron is prefer ably of copper, the vibrations of which not only neutralizev those of the axle, and vice lo 5 versa, but is'the best possible electrical con- 'ductoiy and therefore desirable of use when `.fthe wheel and axle are utilized for closstructures passing through densely-popu-- ing an electrical circuit between fthe motor driving the car and the track-,rail therefor. 11o

The filling 3 ma be inserted by having'itin the form of a ro driven tightly in the boi'e or by having the rod screw-threaded therein; but in practice in order to obtain the best r'esults the filling is preferably run into the bore while in a molten condition, for the reason that thereby a more perfect and reater area of contact between the filling an the axle is insured and the performance of its intended function correspondingly promoted.

Secured upon the vaxle by shrinking or other well-known me ans commonly employed for that pur hse are car-wheels 5 5, which, as shown in Fig. 1, preferably consist of a plurality of metal lates, respectively providin a tread 6 and ange 7 for the wheels, Whic plates are bound together by a series of headed bolts 8, which may be in any desired number and-at such intervals of the face of the wheel as may be preferred.

Plates are of differing materials, and articularly of materials which differ bot in rate and amplitudeof vibration-as, for example, disk plate Q-m'ay be and preferably is of copper and the plates on one side thereof, including the flange-plate 7, of wrought or malleable iron and the plates on the opposite side that is to say, between the copper plate 9 and the outer face of the tread portion 6.-of the same or differing materials, and. in some instances every disk plate or each alternate plate may differ in material-that is to say,

'e composed of materials each differing in rate and amplitude of vibration from the other--and so also the bolts 8 may be of a material differing in these respects from 'one or more of the d1sk lates forming the tread and fiange of the Wliecl. ln practicehow ever, good results ot the desired ends herein set forth are secured by having a centrally arranged disk plate 9 of copper and all the other plates,inc1udin the flange-pl ate and the bolts 8, of cast or ma leable iron; but still better results are obtained by having the bolts composed of copper when the plate 9 is of copper and when all or a majority of the other plates are of iron.

In Fig. 3 lny invention is illustrated in connection with the paper car-wheel that is -to say, in which the web portion 10 is of paper confined between a hub 11, secured' to the axle 1 in the usual Way-and a series of annular rings forming, res eetively, the tread 6 and flange 7 of the whee by means of bolts 12 and plates 13 13. In aper wheels when it is desired to have the'w eel and axle close the circuit between an electric motor and the track-rail an annular ring of copper interposed between annular rings o'f iron forming the face and tread of the wheel may be connected with the copper filling 3 in the axle b y means of one or more wires; but in practlce the co per portion of the paper Wheel, as shown in .ig. 3, preferably consists of a disk 14, extendmg from the hub to the face of the tread of the wheel and connected lbly means of a copper lplu or wire 15, electrically connected with t show-n in Fig. 3.

Asthe electrical feature of my invention 1s but incidental thereto and rendered possible and practical thereby and in the description of which I have specificall referred only to the employment of iron andI copper, it should be understood that my invention include's the employment of two or more metalsor the employment of ametal and some other substance adapted for car axles or wheels so long as there is between such materials a difference in rate and amplitude of vibrations as will produce such a reduction in their resonance when in operation Vas to substantially reduce objectionable and (lisa eeable sounds, and par-A ticularly when vi rations and sounds produced by jars are increased and au mented by the force or energy of an electrica current passing through either or both a car-Wheel or a car-axle.

While I havel illustrated and described my invention as included in a combined car axle and Wheel structure, it should be observed that it would be no' substantial departure therefrom to employ it in the axle to the exclusion of the wheels, and 'vice versa.

My invention also includes as a further means of reducing the rate and amplitude of the vibrations of the car-axle the employment of a soft-metal covering 16, preferably of lead, but may be of any of the other socalled soft metals, and which may be tightly and closely secured to the axle by either melting it or compressing it thereon, and in practice it is preferred to have the ends of this soft-metal covering fit tightly against the flanges 7 of the wheels and to this extent reduce the rate of vibrations and their amplitude.

Having described my invention, what I.

claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A combined car wheel and axle, the axle of which has acored-out portion filled with a non-liquid metal differing in rate and amplitude of vibration from the body of the axle, substantially as described.

2. A combined car wheel and axle, `the axle of which has a cored-out portion filled with a hard metal differing in rate and ain-- lplitude of vibration from'the body of the axle, substantiall as described.

3. A combine car wheel and axle, the axle of which has a cored-out portion extending from end to end and containing a hard metal, the rate and amplitude of vibration of which differs from that of the body of the axle, substantially as described.v

4. A car-axle having a cored-out portion e isk 14 and the Copper filling 3 asV IOO filled with a non-liquid metal differing in rate and amplitude of vibration from the body of the axle and wheels mounted thereon composed of metals also difi'ering in rated and amplitude of vibration, substantially s ;l

described.

ofmetals also differing -in rate and amp itude of vibratipn, substantially as described.

6. A car"Wheel and axle structure com rising in combination a car-axle cored out iliom end to end and filled with a hard metal differing in rate and amplitude of vibration from the body of the axle and Wheels mounted thereon composed of a plurality of plates, the rate and amplitude of vibration of some or all of which differs, substantially as described.

7.` A combined car axle and Wheel structure, comprising in combination an axle, the core of which is com osed of copper and differs in rate and amp itude of vibrations from the material of which the body of said axle is composed, a Wheel secured upon said axle .f and composed of a plurality of lates, one of f 5. A car-axle having a cored-out portion filled with a hard metal differing in rate and amplitude of vibration from the body of thel axle and Wheels\n 1puntedthereon com posedl which is also of copper, and fiers in rate Iand amplitude of vibrations from the other plates, and means electrically connecting said copper plate with the core of the axle, substantially as described.

8. A combined car axle and Wheel structure, the axle of which comprises in combination a cored-Out portion filled with a material, the rate and amplitude of the vibrations of Whi ch differ from the body of the material, said axle being surrounded with a third material, the rate and amplitude of vibrations of which dier from said body portion, substantially as described.

LEWIS P. FERTIG.

Witnesses:

' JNO. G. ELLIOTT,

M. S. REEDER. 

